Dr. Mahdi Abu-Omar, Robert Wetherill Professor of Chemistry, presents a 20 minute virtual field trip for high school STEM students. Dr. Abu-Omar describes work he is doing on the conversion of biomass to biofuels, emphasizing techniques for breaking down lignin in plant materials. Lignin contains...

This basic lab was developed to be used in a non-science classroom to help start student thinking about energy densities of different fuels in mathematical terms. The main objective is to get middle and high school math students to quantify observations of candles made from petroleum based fuels...

Dr. Nate Mosier, Associate Professor of Ag and Biological Engineering, presents a 30 minute virtual field trip for high school STEM students. Dr. Mosier and his graduate assistant, Barron Hewetson, describe work they are doing on the conversion of biomass to biofuels, with a special emphasis on...

In this module students will learn about Lewis acid-catalyzed synthesis of biodiesel. Students will first perform titrations to determine acid value measurement of waste oil. Students will then carry out Lewis acid catalysis for the transesterification of vegetable oil. Then they will use proton...

Can we imagine a future fueled by living plants rather than oil? The Center for direct Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Biofuels (C3Bio) was established in 2009 with a 5-year, $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. C3Bio researchers at Purdue University are...

Two teacher participants from the 2011 Research Goes to School program presented this seminar at the NSTA 2012 conference. This presentation shows what the teachers were able to gain from their experience in the program and how they were able to apply to their classrooms.Contributing Authors:...